A Penthouse on the Chao Phraya
The LIBRARY Design Studio designed this penthouse in Bangkok’s Four Seasons Private Residences as an expansive canvas for the clients’ art collection and the sweeping views of the Chao Phraya river. Here studio co-founder Ploy Thunglaohavichien tells us more about the project
Design Anthology: Can you tell us about the clients and their lifestyle?
Ploy Thunglaohavichien: They’re a young couple, one works in hospitality and the other in development. Both of them are talented young couple who enjoy art and culture.
What was their brief to you for the project?
They wanted their home to be like a gallery. They’re art collectors, which is one of the reasons we decided to paint all the walls white — to make the home like one large canvas.
What’s unique about the building and the location?
The 1,000-square-metre apartment is part of the Four Seasons Private Residences in Bangkok, one of the tallest buildings in Thailand, which sits next to the Chao Phraya river, at its most beautiful riverbank.
How did you approach the project — what design references did you try to incorporate into the space?
After getting the brief from the clients, we visited the site a few times to get a sense of the conditions.
The brief and context of this project are quite unique. We created an open-plan layout that gives a sense of flow to the space, with all spaces linked by views of the Chao Phraya that visually connect the rooms.
Please tell us a little about the material choices for the space.
Our choice of materials was based on finding the cleanest materials that support the art and lighting conditions in the apartment. We took a ‘less is more’ approach, using fewer key materials and maximising the variations in finishes and textures. For example, the honed limestone flooring in the living area is repeated in one of the ledges, but in a special bush-hammered finish that we perfected with the help of a stonemason. For the timber flooring, we worked with a timber specialist to create a unique colour that would work perfectly with the rest of the room, and we designed the plank pattern in various widths that run seamlessly from walkways into rooms.
The idea with the white walls was to create a canvas for the client’s art collection, but also to highlight the views of the river.
Please tell us about some of the custom pieces for the space.
There are quite a few custom pieces. The one we love is the long daybed with attached table lamp, which sits at the facade window that connects the library and dining room. From our first site inspection, we always knew that this corner needed a daybed overlooking the river. Another custom piece is the spiral staircase, which we designed from scratch. After we’d set out the plan, we realised that we wanted to connect the Western kitchen on the lower level to the family entertainment room on the upper level, so we proposed a second staircase over this corner.
Images / Numchok Sawangsri
